Preservice 06/07

The start of a new academic year, and a new group of bright eyed trainees entering the one year PGCE/Cert.Ed. Monday went well, with all but one expected trainees enrolled and sitting comfortably. I wonder what they are nmaking of their first day, and my hopes are that the planning that Martin and I have put into the course will result in an excellent satrt for them. Formalities over we begin with group work, and they certainly prove that they can work effectively together, and rise to a challenge. Some great responses to the big question of the day -“What is Education for?” I also pushed the boundaries by giving them some reading and a task to feedback on from Infed and their feedback was astounding for a first attempt – even coming up with models, diagrams and solutions to some knotty questions for educators. Is “The Big Picture” the place to start? I thoink so, as these folk have so much experience to bring to the group, and I intend to capitalise on it. By Wednesday they appeared to be extremely well settled, showing the expected anxiety towards the impending placements, but also asking astute questions, both of me and of Fozia and Bob. We had fun with the attempt at role play between Martin and I – we have missed our vocation it seem and should be on the stage. My concerns now are that the placement planning goes well.